Balsillie had a tentative agreement to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006. But he withdrew his offer after learning the NHL would restrict his ability to move the club.
His next attempt was to buy the Nashville Predators. That was scuttled last summer after Balsillie indicated he would move the club to Hamilton and began taking deposits from prospective season ticket holders. There are also rumours that he tried to purchase the Ottawa Senators at some point in time.
Clearly, the NHL Commissioner and some of the team owners are not enamoured by Balsillie. But can they keep him from scoring a team forever? Not likely. As the US continues to sink into a recession, NHL teams losing money will go further into the red. Some of these owners will also be suffering financial losses elsewhere in their holdings and find that owning a hockey team may be a luxury than can no longer afford. At some point if it becomes a buyers market because more teams are for sale than there are buyers, the NHL may no longer be able to afford to snub Jim Balsillie. Just look at what's going on in Phoenix and Atlanta - two teams that have never made any money.
